A Beautiful Rose
by Sakura Bloom
Summary: An unexpected love and beauty is discovered when the Digidestined attend a dance at Odaiba High.


"A Beautiful Rose"

**A Beautiful Rose**  
_by Laura Kamida_  
**Rated G**  
  


The flowers were perfect. Gorgeous. They sat in the pretty, sparkly tissue paper... Twelve long-stemmed red roses. Cliché, maybe, but he couldn't resist picking them up immediately. He had to give them to her. He envisioned the expression she would have on her face when he said, "These are for you..."  
  
She would give him one of those radiant, beautiful smiles that she always gave... although they were not usually directed at him. Then she would take the roses in one hand, and take his hand in her other. And he would get shivers up his spine, just like he always did whenever she touched him.  
  
He straightened the collar on his shirt with extra pride, and combed through the mess of his hair, it not looking any different than it had before. He put his hand to his head, and slowly grabbed the goggles that rested there, pulling them back and off of his head. He combed through his hair once more, trying to make sure that he looked absolutely perfect for her, and then walked out of the bathroom.  
  
His sister walked by, her steps bouncy as she, too, prepared for the dance. Obviously she was thinking of her dream date too, the darling blonde with the dreamy blue eyes. He rolled his eyes. _Wish I could be that happy about the same situation..._ he thought begrudgingly, thinking of the poor blonde heartthrob she was in love with.  
  
"We're going to be late." He stared at her as she adjusted her short sea-green dress. She only looked back at him with a look that said _What's your point?_ ... "You don't want to miss out on the _music_, do you?"  
  
She gasped and ran to the door, spraying perfume on herself all along the way. "You're right!"  
  
He rolled his eyes again. "I knew that would work," he muttered to himself.  
  
Through the whole car ride, he could think of nothing except for sinking into his daydreams. He could see her beautiful brown eyes. And her hair - hair that he could run his fingers through while he whispered sweet nothings into her ear. It had seemed so hard to tell her before... By now she had to know that he had an infatuation with her, but he was dying to tell her that there was more there than a simple puppy love... That he really and truly adored her.  
  
He looked down at the flowers and picked one of them out of the bouquet. He broke the stem on it to make it shorter, then tucked it in the front pocket of his shirt. When he told her that he loved her, he would put it in her hair, and she would be the most beautiful girl on earth. Not that she isn't already... he thought to himself with a smile.  
  
They pulled into the parking lot at their school, and he stepped out of the car nervously, flowers in hand. He walked into the dance, the loud music blasting onstage, and his eyes scanned the gymnasium, searching for her. But she was nowhere to be found.  
  
"She must just be late," he told himself. "She's just not here yet." But then his face fell as he saw the familiar shape of her brother in the middle of the dance floor, holding his auburn-haired girlfriend close to himself. He sighed, then hesitantly walked over to the pair.  
  
"Uh, Taichi?" Taichi turned to him, looking a little surprised (and mildly annoyed) to have him interrupt them. He continued. "D'you know where Hikari is?"  
  
"I think she's outside," Taichi replied. "I haven't seen her around here in a while." Sora leaned over and whispered in the older boy's ear, and Taichi tried not to smile. "You may want to stay in here, Daisuke. She'll be back."  
  
The young brunette boy furrowed his eyebrows and walked away from the pair, muttering a thanks as he left. He wasn't just going to let her sit outside while he waited in here. And yet, he thought in the back of his mind that maybe there was something out there he wasn't supposed to see, something he didn't want to see.  
  
But his curiosity overtook him, and he walked out the large double doors anyway. He was immediately bombarded by the contrasting silence of the night as opposed to the loud atmosphere of the dance. He held the door and slowly closed it to conserve the tranquility of the darkness.  
  
There was a very gradual, grassy hill in front of him, and he started to climb it. At the top of the hill, he could see a large flat space at the top. He could map out every inch of the school playground... but in the night, everything looked so much more different, like a cape of romance and darkness had been thrown over it.  
  
He could see the top from where he was now, and he could see two figures sitting on the bench at the top of the hill. No..... his mind whispered. No, please...  
  
But it was. Hikari and Takeru were sitting at the top of the hill, on the bench, looking into each other's eyes, sitting close to one another... holding hands... Daisuke felt his heart start to fall. Maybe they're just talking... he thought desperately, his mind grasping for ideas like he was drowning and reaching for a lifesaver. And in a way, he could feel he was drowning.  
  
He reached the top of the hill, ready to call out to Hikari, desperate to separate them, to wrench his hand from hers and throw him down the hill. He held the bouquet of flowers so tightly that his hand began to shake.  
  
That's when Hikari leaned forward, gently placing her delicate hand in Takeru's uncovered hair, and kissed him softly on the lips. Daisuke inhaled sharply, and turned, not even thinking enough to realize that he had dropped the roses.  
  
Those perfect, long-stemmed roses that were sure to make Hikari fall madly in love with him.  
  
He ran, not having enough sense to know where to stop, and ran through the gymnasium as fast as he could. He felt someone grab his shoulder, probably Taichi, but he jerked away and continued to run. He burst out the front doors of the school, the silence overtaking him again, but now there was another sound. His heartbeat. He could hear it, in his head, deafening, pounding.  
  
_How could I ever think that Hikari could possibly love someone like me_... he thought to himself as he continued to run. He knew that he had to stop sometime, but he just didn't want to... Didn't know where he would stop if he did want to. He saw someone ahead, sitting on a bench on the side of the road, past the sidewalk. It was a bus stop. The girl looked young, but she had a suitcase beside her. Her head was in her hands, and she was shaking with sobs. She had a coat on, although he had not realized it was even cold outside, and a hat over her head.  
  
Daisuke wiped his own tears away, and approached the crying girl slowly. She sniffled loudly, and Daisuke cringed and froze, thinking he was seen. When she continued bawling, obviously not noticing he was there. Or not caring, he thought, becoming depressed all over again.  
  
He sat down beside her, and put his hand on her shoulder. "Is there any - "  
  
The girl jerked her head up, her hat falling back, and her long hair falling down around her shoulders. She looked at him, and both pairs of eyes widened. "Daisuke!?" she screamed, rubbing the wetness from her tear-stained cheeks and blinking away her tears.  
  
"Miyako!?" he yelled back. He yanked his hand back away from her and stood up. "What are you doing here? ... And with a suitcase!?" He paused, then leaned forward, tilting his head to the side "... _Are you running away_?"  
  
She stood up and picked up her suitcase. "You dunce," she said, pushing him away. "Why don't you just go back to the _dance_," she said coldly. With that, her eyes began to tear up again, and she turned away.  
  
Daisuke had pushed the incident to the back of his mind, but that comment brought it back to him. "Oh." It was all he could say. He could barely breathe anymore. Then it occurred to him. "Yeah, why aren't you there, anyway?"  
  
She turned back, her face fiery. "You idiot!" she yelled. "How could you be so cruel!?" Her lip trembled as she slammed her suitcase down again.  
  
Daisuke blinked. "Me? What did _I_ do?"  
  
Her face contorted with anger. "_What did you do_!?" she repeated mockingly. "You only _laughed_ at my... note asking you if you would take me to the dance, and then you passed it off to Takeru."  
  
He blinked again. "That was for _me_!?"  
  
She continued, not hearing him or ignoring what he had said. "I know why you did it... You just wanted some excuse to get Takeru to go with someone besides Hikari because you have your big stupid crush on her! I just don't understand it!" she said, barely being able to get out the last statement as she flopped down on the bench again. "I just don't understand..." she moaned. "Hikari throws herself at Takeru and you're still in love with her. She constantly rejects you, and all I do is try to get your attention and you don't even bat an eye."  
  
Daisuke lowered his head. "I really did think it was for Takeru," he said softly. "Because I never knew... All you do is yell at me anyway."  
  
"I just wanted to be like Hikari! All she does is reject you and you still come crawling back!" she yelled, burying her head in her hands again. "But I guess that's just not possible... All the _pretty_ girls always get the guys... Like Hikari and Mimi and Sora... But _Miyako_... she just gets ignored. If only I were beautiful, like _them_..."  
  
Daisuke furrowed his eyebrows. "You think you're ignored? Way to feel sorry for your... self..." He drifted off, covering his mouth. Miyako was right. He was cruel, and he himself was guilty of the same self-pity that she was anyway.  
  
He sat down beside her, gently touching her hair. She jerked back away from him, and for the first time he noticed that she didn't have her glasses on. She stared at him, and he started to notice that her eyes were kind of pretty, in their own way. Intense, and yet cute at the same time.  
  
"You're so..." he said quietly, thinking of something to say. What could he say? She had just exposed her soul to him, let him know her insecurities, not to mention the fact that she was in love with him. Now he was just discovering that she felt the same way he did about love... That they could never have it.  
  
"Well, what if..." he tried again. But he just couldn't figure out what to say.  
  
Finally he smiled, remembering something. He picked the rose out of his shirt pocket and placed it gently in her hair.  
  
_When he told her that he loved her, he would put it in her hair, and she would be the most beautiful girl on earth._ "I... Miyako... I..."  
  
She looked at him, totally stunned by the gesture.  
  
"I love you," he whispered, leaning forward and gently kissing her.  
  
~*~  
  
Takeru took Hikari's hand, and they slowly started to walk back to the dance. Just at the crest of the hill, he gently nudged something with his foot. He looked down to see a bouquet of gorgeous roses sitting there. He picked them up, and he and Hikari looked at them curiously.  
  
Takeru opened the tag. "_For the most beautiful girl in the world_..." he read aloud.  
  
Hikari quirked an eyebrow. "I wonder what lucky girl was getting these?" she asked.  
  
Takeru shrugged, and carefully lay the bouquet back on the ground. "Seems a shame to leave them there," he said. "But... somebody'll find them, I guess."  
  
Once they walked back into the school, the music from Yamato's band reached their ears again, and they started to dance.  
  
"Hey look!" Takeru said. "I see Miyako and Daisuke over there!" he continued, pointing to the couple.  
  
"Aww... That's so sweet," Hikari mused. "I'm glad. Miyako was so upset about something earlier.... Hey, Takeru, look! She has a rose in her hair..."  
  
The two looked at each other, blinked a couple times... then shrugged. 


End file.
